The use of buckets with an open top and flat bottom to carry liquid and solid materials have been in vogue since the days of the Roman Empire. The majority of buckets have a semi-circular handle attached to their top end, generally referred to, as a bail, for carrying the bucket with one or both hands, depending on the weight of the material in the bucket.
Paint in general is sold in cylindrical containers with semicircular handles to allow the painter to hold the container with one hand while the paint brush is held in the other hand for dipping into the paint in the bucket, to paint a wall or other surface. In order for the paint brush to have unencumbered access to the paint in a paint container or bucket with a handle, the handle and the hand holding the handle need to be positioned away from the paint surface, a feat that is difficult to accomplish because if the handle is not held upright and held to one side away from the paint surface, there is a tendency for the paint bucket to tilt to the other side resulting in the paint spilling over from the bucket. To avoid such mishaps, professional painters generally hold and carry the paint bucket or container by hooking the thumb around the bale/handle and sliding the fingers under the bottom of the bucket.
In an attempt to provide additional support for the thumb when holding down the paint bucket handle to the side of the container, prior art have come up with various devises. U.S. Pat. No. 6,851,571 to LaLonde describes the thumb held in a sleeve connected to a holder attached to the paint container handle, to allow the weight of the container to be transferred to the remainder of the hand supporting the bottom of the container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,681 to Ferrini, describes a hook on a glove to hold the container handle down. U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,781 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,481 to Skelton describe paint containers with their handles pulled down to one side and held in that position by the thumb inserted into a hook or in a loop configured by a hook and loop fastener. U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,807 to Busch describes another apparatus and method for holding a container with one hand where a fastener is attached to the open rim of the container to hold the thumb in a sleeve against the side of the container while the remaining fingers support the bottom of the container.
The devices and methods described in the prior art are aimed predominantly to hold the handles down to the side away from the mouth of pre-existing, cylindrical paint containers. The containers themselves are fabricated separately and do not form part of the inventive concept. In addition, these commercially bought containers with paint are heavy to hold in one hand even if provided the additional support for the thumb to hold the handles down as described in these prior art.
Professional painters are generally in the practice of, and in fact prefer, transferring a small quantity of the paint, usually a quart or so from the original commercial paint containers to another hand-held bucket to allow for greater balance when walking or climbing stairs, less spillage of the paint, and to reduce fatigue to the arm and hand holding the paint bucket. A quart of paint is sufficient to brush for a period of time before the need to replenish the paint in the bucket arises. A cone-shaped, wide-mouthed bucket is preferable to professional painters for easy access with a brush. In addition, to sufficiently load the paint brush with the paint, it is necessary for the bucket to be deep enough to comfortably slap the bristles of the brush on the interior sides of the bucket. This process loads the brush and controls the degree of dripping.
The natural proclivity for a painter is to lift and hold a paint bucket from the bottom end. Although both spillage and dripping are important to a professional and novice painter alike, the primary focus should be in the development of a paint bucket that can be lifted and held from the bottom for a prolonged period of time so that the user can work more comfortably and expend less energy to complete the task of painting a certain surface or object. U.S. Pat. No. 7,644,835 to Bergman describes a hand-held vessel with a strap on one side adaptable to accept a user's hand and secure it to the outer surface of the vessel wall. The vessel described in this prior art requires the user to insert their hand through the strap and hold the vessel using its sides for support which can lead to strain and fatigue to the hand if held for a period of time.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies described in the prior art by providing a paint bucket which can be held in the palm of one hand without the use of a handle, hooks, straps, or other appendages.